Recon: Krawl Space
by Nick4120
Summary: prequel to Recon. Rookie is sent to harvest. but he finds a planet of nightmares
1. Chapter 1

Recon: Krawl Space CH.1

2553, 2 years before the Reich invasion of earth.

(Quick AN: The Reich is the alliance formed by Richtofen. Sorry I forgot about that in Recon)

UNSC Frigate: The Hammer

Rookie was looking at the video that was sent to him a week ago revealing a woman around his age with blue eyes, glasses, and raven black hair. "Beth..." he said.

It has been a week since Earth has lost communications with The Salvation, a colonist ship up above the planet Harvest, the UNSC has sent The Hammer and her crew to investigate.

Rookie continued to look at the video. "Jack?" The woman in the video asked. "It was the artifact. People on the planet found it. They brought it aboard the ship. Now... I have no clue what the hell is happening."

"You've watched that the whole time, Rookie." Buck said as he walked toward him.

"We haven't seen each other in months." Rookie said. "It'll be great to see her again. I just hope she's ok.. She sounds crazy in the video."

"She's probably homesick, Rookie." Buck said. "Or maybe it's artificial gravity sickness."

"Yeah." Rookie said.

"Attention." The Intercom said. "The Salvation is inbound. Preparing to Dock."

"Ok." Buck said as he turned to the rest of the team. (Dare, Romeo, Dutch and Micky) "Ok, Troopers. You know the drill! Let's get to The Salvation and see what's going on!"

"Yes Sir!" the troop said as they put on their helmet.

So they then headed to the airlock leading to the Salvation. There they met Captian Jackson.

"Gunnary Sargent Buck." Jackson said.

"sir." Buck replied.

"you know your mission. Get on the ship, see what happened, and then come back. It's that simple." Jackson said.

Buck put on his helmet. "Roger. Troopers! Let's go!"

They then went throughout the airlock and into The Salvation, but when they got there, none of the lights were on, so they had to use their nightvison function on the visors of their helmets.

"alright team, move out."

They searched a few rooms. Romeo was looking in one, and he thought he saw something move in the darkness.

Romeo blinked "What the f-"

Right in Mid-sentence, he was attacked by some creature that bit him on the shoulder. The creature had fangs and yellow eyes. It's skin was black with a shade of purple.

"Oh God!" Romeo screamed in terror. "Some one get this thing off me!"

Buck, Rookie, Dare, Mickey and Dutch heard the screams and ran toward Romeo. When they saw what was attacking Romeo, they open fire at it. It didn't kill the creature, but it scared it away. Buck ran to Romeo.

"Romeo, you ok?" Buck asked.

"Does it FUCKING look like I'm ok?" Romeo shouted. "Some unknown alien creature attacked me and nearly ripped out my shoulder!"

Romeo began to be tired, then he fainted.

"Dutch. Mickey.",Buck pointed at the 2 ODSTs. "Get Romeo back to the Hammer and well follow you."

"Let's hurry." Rookie said. "I think more are coming this way."

As they heard roars and shrieks, the crew fell back to the Hammer hoping to get Romeo some medical help.

But when they got there, something else happened, a team of medics abducted Romeo and put him in quarantine. Captain Jackson walked up to Buck. "Buck, what in the HELL happened on the Salvation?"

"We don't know sir." Buck said. "Some creature attacked Romeo and we have reason to believe that there are more of them and it's probably why we lost contact with the Salvation."

Rookie looked at Buck and Jackson. "Now come on, I'm sure there are other survivors back there." he referred to Beth, hoping that she was still alive.

Jackson stared at Rookie in an unpleasant attitude, he then looked at Buck. "Ok then. Gunnery Sargent Buck. You and your Squad are to head back to the Salvation, and find their security videos so we know just what the hell happened on that ship."

"Yes sir." Buck said as he and his team headed to the airlock leading to the Salvation.

"Wait." Jackson put his hand on Rookie. "what's your name, soldier?"

"Shepard." Rookie said. "Jack Shepard."


	2. Chapter 2

Recon: Krawl Space

CH.2

Frigate: The Salvation

It's been an hour, and the team couldn't find the security room.

"Come on." Buck said. "It has to be some where."

They then heard a noise from the corner. They all had their guns up.

"What was that?" Rookie asked while loading his gun.

"Don't know." Buck said. "Dutch. Dare. Go check it out."

Dare and Dutch then headed to the corner to see what caused the noise. When they came back, they had a third person in the party. He had red hair. He was wearing a standard medical officer jumpsuit.

"Who are you." Buck ordered to the unknown person. "State your name, rank, and station."

The orange haired person stood up and looked at Buck. "My names Rallen. Second-Class private. Medical Wing."

"Medical Wing?" Rookie asked. "Did you know someone named Beth Church? Black Hair, blue eyes, glasses?"

"Yeah." Rallen said. "I worked with Beth. She was nice. Why?"

"I'm looking for her." Rookie said. "Do you know if she's still alive?"

"No clue." Rallen said. "Haven't seen her in 2 days."

"Rookie, don't worry." Buck said. "Well find Beth. But we have orders." he turned to Rallen. "What the hell happened here?"

"It was something about a Relic. Some ancient artifact they found on the planets surface." Rallen said.

"An artifact?" Dare asked. "How could an artifact cause all of this?"

"I don't know." Rallen said.

"Do you know where the security room is?" Buck asked.

"Yeah. Come on." Rallen said. They then followed him to the Security room.

MEANWHILE ON THE HAMMER.

"Restrain Him!" The Doctor said as five marines wearing hazmat suits where holding down Romeo.

"What the fuck is going on?" The nurse said.

Romeo then pushed off all all five marines at once. But there was something wrong with him. They all watched at he began to grow claws, yellow eyes, spikes on his head, fangs, and then his entire body turned pitch black.

"Romeo" Hissed at the marines, nurse and doctor.

"OPEN FIRE!" One marine ordered.

But it was too late, The beast that was once Romeo charged at the marines. It ripped open one marines Ribcage, then it bit out another's throat. It attacked the other marines. Covered in blood, it stared at the nurse. It then pounced at her and bit her arm off. And now the doctor was the only one left. The Beast attacked him last, using his claws to scratch out his organs one at a time. And soon, the victims became beasts themselves, then the infection began to spread all over the Hammer.

BACK ON THE SALVATION

"Come on." Rallen said. "Security Rooms over here."

The ODST team and Rallen walked into the room.

"Dare." Buck said. "Look for videos from the last week."

"Got it." Dare sat down at a computer and looked for the videos.

"Hello?" Said a familiar voice through the helmet radios "Is anyone there? This is Beth Church. Broadcasting on all UNSC radios ship wide."

Rookie answered his radio. "Beth?" He said. "Are you ok?"

"Jack?" Beth sighed in relief. "It's so good to hear your voice again!" She cried.

"It's gonna be alright." Rookie said. "Where are you?"

"I'm on the bridge." Beth said. "Hurry."

"Don't worry." Rookie said. "I'll be there."

"And Jack?" Beth asked.

"yeah?"

"Has anyone been bitten?" Beth asked.

"Yeah... Romeo was bitten an hour ago, so we put him in an infirmary back on the Hammer." Rookie said.

"Your saying that he's on the Hammer?" Beth said. "And that was an hour ago?"

"Yeah.. Why?" Buck asked through his radio.

"He's infected!" Beth said.

"What?" Buck asked.

"The thing that bit him." Beth said. "He's probably one of them by now!"

"Oh my god.." Buck said as he changed radio frequencies back to Captain Jackson. "Captain! You might have a situation."

"Your telling me!" The captain said while firing rounds from his pistol. "These fuckers are everywhere!"

"Captain!" And engineer told him. "These things are fucking with the power!"

"Get them off before-" The power to the Hammer went off. Causing it and the Salvation to fall down to Harvest through the orbit.

"Aw shit!" Buck said.

"Beth!" Rookie said through the radio "hold on! To something! Were going down!"


	3. Chapter 3

Recon: Krawl Space CH.3

"Uggh." Rookie said as he regain conscience. "Everyone ok?" Rookie looked and saw His team, and Rallen, getting up recovering from the crash. He then turned on his radio. "Beth? Beth, You still there?" he said in a worried tone.

"Jack?" Beth coughed. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Rookie said. "Beth, are you still at the bridge?"

"Yeah."

"I'm coming for you." Rookie said. "Hold on."as The Rookie started to head to the bridge, Buck stopped him.

"Hold on, Rook." Buck said. "Your not going alone. Mickey. Dutch. Go with him. Rallen, Dare and I will go find a Longsword that is still intact. You'll meet us at the hangar and we'll get off world to get more help with these things."

"Sounds like a plan." Rookie said. "Dutch. Mickey. Let's go."

They followed him out of the room. Buck turned to Rallen. "Your familiar with this ship. Where's the hangar?"

"It's right this way." Rallen said as he lead them to the hangar.

Later...

Rookie looked from the corner. "Ok. Were good." as Rookie sprinted down the hall, Dutch and Mickey followed him.

"So Rookie," Dutch started. "Not to be personal or anything, but how'd you meet Beth?"

"We meet at a recruitment center on Luna." Rookie said. "Her mother died during child birth so it was just her and her father. He was part of some independent project for the UNSC. sad story for him. He was at Reach when the Covenant glassed it. She cried for weeks when she found out."

"Damn." Mickey said.

"Then after the war was over, Beth decided to be part of the re-colonization program. Thats what brought her here. In this hell." Rookie said, with his tone showing concern.

"Don't worry." Dutch said. "We'll find her."

Then they heard growling.

"What was that?" Rookie said.

Mickey walked to the end of the hall to see what the noise was. The next thing Dutch and Rookie heard was a series of gunshots and then screaming. They went to help Mickey but what they saw was another one of the Creatures, but this one was different, this one was bigger than a Hunter. In fact, this made the Hunter look like a little girl. It has Mickey in it's claw and it rapidly slammed him to the floor.

"What the Hell?" Rookie asked.

For it's final blow, the giant creature used it's other claw to grab Mickey by his feet and begun to pull him apart. Rookie and Dutch saw as Mickeys skin tore apart. The pain was terrible. Mickey saw as his organs fell from his body. The creature dropped Mickey and crushed his skull. Dutch gasped, having the creatures attention.

"Run!" Rookie shouted.

As Dutch and Rookie ran down the hall, the creature charged. Luckily, they were able to close a door on it.

"That was close." Rookie said.

Then the creature started to bang on the door. It was only inevitable that it would break them down and kill them.

"Oh shit." Rookie said.

"Rookie." Dutch said. "Go. I'll hold it off. Go find Beth."

"What?" Rookie said. "You'll be torn to bits!"

"I'll buy you some time." Dutch said. "Find Beth. Look for another way to Buck. Get out of here."

"But-"

"NOW!" Dutch said.

The creatures arm then punched a hole in the door.

"Rookie!" Dutch said. "Now!"

Rookie turned and ran. As he ran, he could hear Dutch's flesh being torn apart, his bones snapping., and his screaming of pain. Rookie passed a door and closed it. With his back to the wall, he slid down.

"Here"

Rookie looked up to see a water bottle in front of him. Holding it was a mysterious figure. Rookie took the water and took off his helmet, revealing his brown hair and blue eyes. He began to drink it. "Thanks..." Rookie said. "I didn't catch your name."

The figure walked into the light. He wasn't human. He was like one of the creatures, except that it looked more like a human than one of those... Things. His body was covered in symbols that was definitely alien.

"Whoa!" Rookie slid away and tried to reach his gun, then he aimed it at the stranger. "Piss off!"

"First." The stranger said. "My name is Krull. Second, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"What do you want?" Rookie demanded, still had his gun aimed at Krull.

"I'm here to search for something." Krull said. "The artifact that the crew of the Salvation picked up on this planet. The very same artifact that is causing this living nightmare. The same artifact that is causing the crew to turn into these Krawlers."

"What is it?" Rookie asked. "What do you want with it?"

"It's called a Relic." Krull said. "And if you find it and bring it to me, I can stop all this. Is that a deal, Jack?"

"How do you know my name?" Rookie demanded.

"I tapped into your radios." Krull said. "I know the names of your teammates, your mission," Krull got closer to Rookie, face to face. "And Beth"

"If you go anywhere near her.." Rookie said.

"Oh calm down!" Krull said. "She's fine. Just down the hall. Go on ahead."

As Rookie got up, he started to walk down the hall.

"And Jack." Krull said. "Don't forgot about our deal."

"How do I know what this Relic looks like?" Rookie said.

"You'll know when you find it." Krupp said. He then disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

Rookie looked, and then turned away as he ran down the hall to a door. "Beth. Here I come." he smiled and opened the door. "Beth? You here."

Beth recognized the voice and got out of hiding. "Jack." she ran up to him and hugged him. "I missed you." she cried and grabbed his helmet. "Let me see your face." she then took off Rookies helmet from his head. They then kissed.

"Where getting out of here." Rookie said. "My team and Rallen are at the hangar."

"Ok." Beth said. "Let's go."

Later...

"I think the coast is clear." Rookie said as he looked down the sights of his gun.

As he and Beth continued down the hall, they found what was left of Dutch, being eaten by a Krawler.

"Jesus." Rookie said as he opened fire at the Krawler, killing it.

"Friend of yours?" Beth asked.

"He was on my team during the attack of New Mombasa." Rookie said. "Where's the hangar?" he asked Beth.

"This way." Beth said as he walked into a door way and Rookie followed her.

Half and hour later, they finally reached the hangar and meet with Buck, Dare and Rallen.

"Rookie.." Buck said. "Where's.." before Buck could finish his question, he could tell that Dutch and Mickey were dead. "Damn."

"We got to get out of here." Jack said.

"Ok." Rallen said. "Rookie, we need you to head up to the flight control room and open the hangar doors."

"Got it." Rookie said as he ran over to flight control. He walked up the stairs and entered the flight control room. He then found and pressed the button that opened the Hanger Doors.

"Great job!" Rallen said. "Now come on down."

Rookie ran down the stairs with joy. He and Beth were finally going to be home. When he got to the hangar, he saw Rallen standing on the Longswords ramp with Dare, Buck and Beth. "Are we ready?" Rookie asked.

"Oh yeah." Rallen said. Then he took out a rod that looked like a flashlight, but when he turned it on, it turned into a sword. He used it to stab Buck in the chest and then he slit Dares throat with it. Beth ran back to Rookie.

"Are you ok, Beth?" Rookie asked.

"Yeah."

Rookie then aimed his gun at Rallen. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" Rookie demanded.

"It's time I told you the truth." Rallen said. "I'm not UNSC. I never will be. I'm from a completely different system. The reason why I'm here is because I've been sent to recover the artifact they found. It was good knowing you." Rallen said.

He then lifted his sleeve and revealed a small wrist computer (prizmod) and pressed a button. Then in a flash of light, another creature appeared. It was definitely not a Krawler. It had a teal coat, horns all over it, red eyes, and a spikeball at the end of the tail.

"What the hell?" Rookie said.

"It's called a Spikanora." Rallen said. He then turned to the Spikanora. "Kill them." He said as he walked into the ship and took off.

The Spikanora then charged at Rookie and Beth. But then, several shots were fired at it. The Spikanora turned to see Buck was still alive.

"Come over here, you fucker!" Buck said.

"Buck.." Rookie said.

"Get out of here!" Buck said. "Now!"

While the Spikanora was distracted by Buck, Rookie and Beth ran down the hall.

"What do we do?" Rookie asked.

"There are escape pods down the hall." Beth said. "Come on!"

Rookie and Beth ran to the escape pod room and found the last one. But then they heard the Spikanora rampaging through the hall, toward Beth and Rookie.

"Let's go!" Rookie said as he and Beth ran into the escape pod.

"But wait!" Beth said. "If were no longer in orbit and on the planet surface, won't we crash or something?"

"It's better then here!" Rookie said as he pressed the launch button and then he and Beth flew out of the shop in the escape pod. It launched them several miles away from the ship, crash landing in a forest, knocking the two out.

A few hours later, Rookie woke up in a cave. He noticed Beth asleep with her head on his shoulder.

"Hey." Said a Russian voice. "He's up."

"What the?" Rookie said as looked for his gun.

"Don't worry." Said another voice. "We won't hurt you."

Rookie looked up to see the two figures. One was Asian and the other one was Russian. "Who are you two?" He asked.

"I'm Takeo" The Asian man said. "And this is Nikolai." he pointed at the Russian.

"Wait." Nikolai said. "Do any of you two have vodka?"


	4. Chapter 4

Recon: Krawl Space

CH.4 (FINALE)

"Who are you two?" Rookie asked.

"I am Takeo." Takeo said. "And that's Nikolai. Who are you?"

"Jack Shepard." Rookie said. "And this is Beth."

Beth started to wake up. "Huh? Jack?"

"Its ok." Rookie said. He then noticed something on the other side of the room. It was a rod with symbols on it. The same symbols Krull had. "What's that?"

Takeo looked at the rod. "That? We don't know. All we know is that it's what keeping those creatures outside."

Rookie walked up to the rod. "Could this be the Relic Krull was talking about?"

"Jack, what are you talking about?" Beth asked.

"Beth, is this the artifact that they found down here?" Rookie picked up the rod and showed it to Beth.

Beth recognized it from the pictures that scientists took. "Yeah. That's it."

The Rookie cheered. "We can end this!" he said.

"What?" Nikolai asked.

"All the creatures outside, they're being caused by this! If I can get this to Krull, he can end all of this!" Rookie said.

"Jack," Beth said. "Are you sure."

"It's the only chance we have." Jack said.

All of the sudden, Rookies radio rang. Rookie answered it. "Who is this?"

"Hello, Jack." Rallen said from the other end of the radio. "It's me."

"You bastard." Rookie said. "You'll pay for what you did."

Rallen laughed. "Look, Rookie. I have an offer for you."

"Ok." Rookie said. "Let's hear it."

"I understand that Krull sent you to recover his Relic." Rallen said. "But if you give it to me, I'll promise you, and Beth, a free ride off world."

Rookie thought. "What should I do? End this nightmare, or get Beth out of here?"

"Jack." Beth asked. "What's wrong?"

Rookie looked at Beth. "Ok. Here's what we have to do. We need to take this Relic and bring it to Rallen."

Beth looked at Rookie as if he lost it. "Wait. You mean bring this Relic to Rallen. The same Rallen who killed your team. Then tried to kill us?"

"We don't have any other options." Rookie. "Even if we found a way to stop this, how would we go home? Rallen is offering us a ship to get off world."

"Can we trust him?" Beth asked.

"We have too." Rookie said. "It's the only way."

Beth thought. "It's either give Rallen this Relic and get out of this nightmare, or stay here and die." she looked at Rookie. "Ok. Ive had enough of this planet. Let's get out of here."

"Alright." Rookie said. "Takeo. Nikolai. You guys wanna come?"

"Let us go." Takeo said. "I've been here too long!" he lifted his katana and walked toward Rookie. "I will fight along you, Jack-San"

"Just call me Jack." Rookie said. He then looked at Nikolai. "You coming too?"

"Well," Nikolai said. "I AM running out of Vodka. Do you have Vodka where you are from?"

"Tons of it." Rookie said.

Nikolai immediately got up. "The red army will be happy to serve you!" He said enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

"Ok. Let's go." Rookie said as he lead his everyone to the extraction point.

A few hours later, they were halfway to the place Rallen told Rookie to go. So far, they didn't see any resistance from Krawlers or the creature Rallen summoned earlier.

"So how did you two end up here?" Rookie finally decided to ask Nikolai and Takeo.

"There used to be 4 of us." Takeo stated. "The other two was a German and an American. Hundreds of years ago, there was a zombie outbreak on earth. The German claimed that he could help us. We traveled hundreds of years into the future. He betrayed us. The American sacrificed himself to save us."

"I do miss Dempsey." Nikolai said. "But we'd be dead if he didn't stay behind."

"Damn." Rookie said. "It's a good thing your with us. You'll be able to get out of this hellhole."

"That is good." Takeo said.

Beth looked down a cliff. "Jack. Were here."

Rookie looked down the cliff and saw several ships, not UNSC though. They were all white ships that had parts of yellow on them.

"Ok." Rookie said. "Let's get outta here."

They then arrived at the base. They all looked as several guards had there guns aimed at them. Rallen came out to have them stand down.

"Enough." He told them. Rallen then turned to Rookie. "You got it?"

"Yep." Rookie went through his knapsack and pulled out the Relic. He then handed it to Rallen. "Here you go."

Rallen snatched it and stared at it. "Yes.."

"Ok, Rallen." Rookie said. "Now where's my ship."

"Oh yeah." Rallen turned to the guards. "Kill them." he then walked out of the soon to be firefight.

"What?" Rookie said. "But you said-"

"I lied." Rallen said. "I just needed the Relic and I gave you a reason to bring it to me."

"You bastard." Rookie said. "When this is all over, I WILL kill you."

"We'll see about that." Rallen said.

"Get to cover!" Rookie said as he grabbed Beth's hand and pulled her to cover. Nikolai and Takeo joined them.

"Jack-San" Takeo said. "What now?"

"I'm thinking." Rookie said as he fired his assault rifle at one of the guards. He then looked to see the shipyard wasn't far from them. "I got it. Everyone to that ship."

They all ran for the ship. Takeo and Nikolai held back the guards as Beth and Rookie tried to figure out the controls.

"This one?" Rookie asked as he pointed at a lever.

"It's worth a try." Beth said as she pulled it.

Suddenly, the ship lifted up. The ramp of the ship closed up and Nikolai and Takeo ran up to Beth and Rookie.

"How's it going?" Takeo asked.

"Well, were up." Rookie said. "That's good... I guess."

Then, they felt as if a missile hit them. "What was that?" Rookie asked.

"Oh no." Beth said as she looked into a radar. "More of those bastards are airborne and after us."

"Shit!" Rookie exclaimed. "No. We've been this far. They can't just stop us now. Full speed try to lose them."

Beth drove the ship higher and faster. But it wasn't enough. Because of the first hit they got, they were losing fuel. Fast. The ship began to lose altitude. Beth looked at Rookie. They hugged for one last time.

"Well." Takeo said. "This is how we end... Well be seeing Dempsey soon."

"This sucks!" Nikolai exclaimed. "I thought I'd die from drinking too much Vodka. A true Russian way to die."

"Beth.." Rookie said. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. I'm sorry I couldn't help you before it was too late."

"It's ok..." Beth said softly as a tear rode down her cheek. She then went to take off Rookies helmet.

"Here." Rookie put his hands on his helmet. "Let me." he pulled off the helmet and dropped it on the floor. He looked deep into Beth's eyes. "I loved you. I've always loved you."

"Same here." Beth said.

They kissed. Until the ship crashed.

EPILOGUE

Rookie woke up. His whole body was in pain. "Ugh.." he then looked around. "Beth?" he began to panic. "Beth?" she was no where to be seen. The , he saw someone walk over to him. He turned to see Rallen with an energy sword. Behind him, Guards were taking away the unconscious bodies of Beth, Takeo and Nikolai. He then looked at Rallen again.

"You have given me quite a rough day." Rallen said. "No matter. I've been waiting for this."

Rallen raised his sword. Rookie closed his eyes and accepted his fate. As Rallen was about to swing his sword, he was stopped by the order from a German voice. "Rallen!"

Rallen looked back. "Richtofen..."

Richtofen walked past Rallen and looked at Rookie. "My my." He said. "You could make a great asset to my experiments on Ziba. Or better yet, I'm sure Church can think of something to do to you." Richtofen got up and turned to two guards. "you two! Grab this one." he pointed at Rookie.

The guards went to pick Rookie up. They carried him past Rallen and Richtofen, who were having a conversation.

"Are you sure giving him to Church to experiment on is a good idea?" Rallen asked. "He's UNSC."

Richtofen laughed. "Oh please! That fool still thinks were trying to help Earth. Which is why when we begin our attack, you and your partner will head to Ziba, take his data, and blow up the base, with him and his freelancers in it.


End file.
